It is now just after lunch and we’ve been at it since 8 o’clock this morning.
We did something this morning, I have never tried before. We had a video test. We saw 26 plays and before each play, we were asked a question. It could either be to name the foul, to decide if it was a foul or not or it could have to do with determining the enforcement spot.
It was a very different and interesting way to look at video. Sometimes you only got to see the play once and on other occations, you got to see the play from different angles. This is certainly something we might consider doing in Europe.
The next session was the written test!!!
All the officials broke into positions and I went with the referees. There were 16 of us. We set up the tables in kind of a circle and we then went around the room taking turns answering a question. This created some good discussions, but it also made sure that we all had the same answers. The test had 23 questions so I only got to present one to the group.
It was kickoff, with fouls by both teams and a fumble on the return that was recovered by A. No team had clean hands, so the result was an offset and replay.
They gave us an answer sheet, so we didn’t have to write a long story to answer each question. We merely had to fill in possession, down, distance, yardline and clock. This also makes it a lot easier to grade the tests.
The last presentation of the day dealt with unsportsmanlike conduct and personal fouls. There was general agreement to a large extend, and whenever a discussion would break out, the supervisors would help out with their interpretations and settle it once and for all.
This afternoon there is a golf outing for those who like to play golf and tonight there is a BBQ at the Standford Golf Club. It should be fun. I look forward to tomorrow, which will have more breakout sessions and more football stuff.